‘Zimbabwean poem’ chain mail

January 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This ‘loving Zimbabwean father’s poem’ shows why the Internet is so ripe for scammers

I got this from a well-meaning friend today. A 15 second scam-scan on Google turned up this - proving this to be just another of the endless chain emails going round the globe. Note: there is no 3 cents to AOL. Nobody is being helped. Nothing is happening except the internet clogging up with more junk.

And it’s been going since 2000.

Ok, so it’s fairly harmless in that it doesn’t do anything bad to any individual. What it is, though, is a litmus test for vulnerability.

Everyone who passes this onwards, swayed by the pathos of the story and rendered uncritical by the appeal for help exposes themselves as ripe for exploitation.

I copy-pasted the link and hit ‘reply-all’ to everyone in this sorry chain.

What’s stupid is that I feel like the bad guy – for spoiling everyone’s dream!

If you remain uncritical in the online world, expect to be exploited.

Filed Under: scam warning Tagged With: , , , , ,

World Business Directory: don’t sign the form

January 10, 2009 By 5 Comments

Don’t sign the World Business Directory form unless you want to lose £2940

This nasty piece of work arrived in my inbox today.

It appears to offer you the chance to ‘update’ your data for free on a business directory.

However, the small print says quite clearly:

THE SIGNING OF THIS DOCUMENT REPRESENTS THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING……THE VALIDATION TIME OF THE CONTRACT IS THREE YEARS….I HEREBY ORDER A SUBSCRIPTION….THE PRICE PER YEAR IS GBP 980.

You might want to ask yourself – what possible benefit could this company give you that’s worth £2940?  A quick Google on the company name ‘EU Business Services Ltd’ leads to this informative site.

Still, these people would say, you were warned. And they would be right. After all, it does say ‘only sign if you want to place an insertion’. Mind you, it also says “please fill in the form completely” in bold in an attempt to get you to sign.

Those who know me know how much I dislike online directories at the best of times. With a bit of luck this post will zip to the top of Google for anyone wondering about this so-called directory – and maybe stop one or two people falling for this cynical piece of work.

Filed Under: scam warning, Scambusters! Tagged With: , , , ,
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